Buyers and suppliers of information technology (IT) services today work with a variety of different pricing schemes to meet their individual project and business needs. Historically, the great majority of service contracts were billed on a time and materials basis. However, a recent market and business survey revealed that users and vendors are increasingly moving toward more flexible contract structures built around a combination of fixed-fee/fixed-bid service components and value-based/risk-reward mechanisms based on usage or defined service-level objectives.
Common approaches to pricing include cost-oriented pricing, competitive-oriented pricing, and value-based pricing approaches. In cost-oriented pricing, the seller determines the cost involved in providing a specific service and adds the desired profit margin to calculate price. The cost is set based on the internal cost to deliver the service and/or product plus a target margin on the cost. In competitive-oriented pricing, price is determined with reference to the prices of the competitors.
Value based pricing usually refers to the setting of price as a function of the expected value to be derived from the services and/or products. A set of value drivers in value-based pricing may vary from industry to industry. In a value based approach the price is based on the total value delivered to the client. Internal costs and target margins are only considered to ensure that the value-based price meets or exceeds the planned target margin. Value based pricing can provide greater negotiating leverage and ability to win the contract for services and/or products, and typically results in the higher profit margins. Thus, more and more projects are using value-based pricing model.
Different value-based pricing models focus on different aspects for providing value-based pricing. For instance, part fixed/part risk-reward pricing model is a form of value-based pricing models that links the price to clearly defined business value improvements, for example, economic value to the customer for the goods/services that is provided. This economic value can be measured in additional revenue, cost savings, improved cash flow, inventory turns, etc. The following formulas illustrate some examples of determining value-based price using economic values:                Base Fee+gain sharing on cost savings (e.g., −10% cost savings every year for 3 years);        Base Fee+gain sharing on completion date (e.g., +/−10% depending on defined implementation date);        Base Fee+gain sharing on added value (e.g., link price to efficiency business process improvement);        Base Fee+gain sharing on company level metrics (e.g., link price to corporate level metrics such as ROCE (Return on Capital Employed), ROA (Return on Assets); share price improvement of the client; KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) specified in balanced scorecard, meeting schedule, budget, and/or quality in project delivery; building capability in process and/or technology platform; client satisfaction).        
Another example of value-based pricing model is self-funding pricing model. This model considers risks based on phased funding upon attainment of benefits. For example, first phase of work is funded based on the successful attainment of benefit for the next phases of work. Solution financing model provides yet another variation of value-based pricing model that includes complete or partial financing of an appropriate solution. Completely variable pricing is another value-based pricing model and links the price to clearly defined business value improvements and covers the entire project fee plus potential gain sharing based on some metrics. Utility/on-demand pricing is yet another example of value-based pricing model, in the form of “usage-based” feed, that is, price depending on usage of services, outsourced process performance, IT infrastructure usage.
While many IT services firms utilize the value-based pricing models, others have varied pricing determination depending on the state of client's business goals and individual projects. For instance, if client's underlying business goals and maturity of its internal processes are small and have poorly scoped engagements, time and materials pricing is seen as the appropriate pricing model. On the other hand, if the client has well defined projects drawn from previous project experience, fixed-fee pricing is viewed as more appropriate. Among trusted partners, where the responsibilities of each player are clear and agreeable, value-based pricing is preferred since outstanding results can be delivered if done properly.
In practice, deals may incorporate a variety of components and situations resulting in a hybrid deal structure. Thus, it is desirable to have an automated system and method that can take into account the various and hybrid characteristics of a project or business goal and provide an optimal pricing model, for example, that is based on different pricing models for different sets of characteristics found in the overall project or business goal.
Profitability can be extremely sensitive to changes in price. For instance, studies show that given a cost structure typical of large corporations, a 1% boost in price realization yields a net income gain of 12%. A pricing model that considers hybrid characteristics of a project and uses different pricing schemes and further optimizes the ratio of the usage of those different pricing schemes in the pricing model would provide better and more accurate pricing, and result in much improved profit.